Across Women's Lives has been taking an in-depth look at what drives the sex trafficking business in Thailand. Join AWL digital producer Anne Bailey and social media journalist Isis Madrid to hear and see more about that reporting. We'll be joined by activist Noel Gomez to hear her personal experiences with the sex industry and her advocacy work.

Please feel free to submit your questions for us ahead of time and follow along on social media with the hashtag #AWLNoel.

Noel Gomez, CDPCo-Founder of OPS, http://seattleops.org"Noel Gomez survived 15 years in the life of prostitution. At age 16, she was kicked out of her home because she was pregnant. As a homeless teen, she sent her baby to live with the father’s family. Shortly thereafter Noel met a man who offered her everything she felt she needed at the time. She fell in love and eventually through the process of grooming, the man Noel called her boyfriend turned her out to prostitute and became her pimp. Once Noel was able to leave him, she remained in the sex industry working escort and dancing in strip clubs in Seattle, Washington. As Noel has said so often, “I never thought in a million years that I would grow up and be prostituted, but I don’t think that any girl does.”

Since exiting “the life,” Noel has obtained a state certification as a Chemical Dependency Counselor and completed her BA in Social Justice at Antioch University. Noel has spent several years working with youth involved in the criminal justice system, many of them through prostitution. She has worked as an advocate for youth that have been and/or are being sexually exploited through prostitution. Noel has been facilitating the Sex Industry Workers class for the City of Seattle for over three years. She is the co-founder of OPS–The Organization for Prostitution Survivors. Noel started OPS to help sexually exploited people get the help that they need and assist people in this life to exit if that is what they choose."